How do we know that this hardware (motherboard, CPU) really support Fedora version 18

Question

We are developing internal software using MySql dB and are planning to use Fedora for the server.

The question is how do we know that this hardware (motherboard, CPU) really support Fedora version 18 or 19? We are looking at mobo from Asus or Intel or Gigabyte, but did not find firm answer. We did not find the info from mobo websites either.

The mobo that got our interest are the ones with H77 or Z77 or H87 chipsets.

Is there any URL for me to get the information we need?

Answer 1

1) Fedora is awesome, but it's a desktop OS, not a server OS. The life cycle is way to short and it's not hardened like a server-focused distro. RHEL/CentOS would make a much better OS, and if you needed something newer than it offers, check the EPEL repo.

2) Most consumer mainboard manufacturers don't list Linux support. Another reason to use server-grade hardware is that it is usually validated against RHEL 6 (and thus CentOS 6 will work). You can get good
server-grade hardware for not too much more money.

3) You might want to look at Intel, if you really want this. Check their "Server and Workstation" section, they are usually quite Linux friendly and they make the chipset info readily available.

Answer 2

Fedora 18 is EOLed so don't even think about starting there. If you really want to use Fedora you need to be comfortable with upgrading at least once a year. Note that F19 will be EOLed when F21 comes out in a
few months. Centos might be a better option.

A good way to test hardware compatibility is to try one of the Live versions booted from CD. They are very much desktop-oriented though.